March

Building Your Child’s Skills- Make Learning Fun

There are so many fun things you can do at home to build your child’s skills.  If you want to teach counting or colors, make it fun and interactive.  At snack time have them count their goldfish crackers or sort their fruit snacks by color.  Play with them.  Build blocks and count them as your stack up the tower or ask them for a specific color.  Let them use their imagination to build and talk to them about what they are making.  Play a board game with them, or even devote one night a month to family game night.  Playing board games teaches your child a lot of different skills.  It teaches them how win or lose, how to wait their turn, how to follow rules, etc.  You can also use it as an opportunity to teach colors or concepts depending on which game you play.  One of the most important things you can do with your child to help build their skills is read to them every single day.  Reading not only exposes them to language but it also teaches them how to be good listeners.  Take them exploring, go for a walk in your neighborhood or at the park.  Talk about what you see.  Let them help you cook or bake and give them some age appropriate chores to do around the house.  This helps them become responsible and helps build their skills.  Have them help fold laundry.  You can talk about the different sizes of the socks or colors of towels.  Most importantly, spend quality time with them each and every day.  They are only young once.  When you are spending time with them, make sure you are not distracted and be sure to make eye contact with them.  Put your phones away and turn the television off and give them your undivided attention, they deserve it.  And remember to focus on their strengths.  Tell them daily the things they are good at.  We want them to be confident in themselves.    The more confident they are in themselves, the more successful they will be.  For more information on ways you can build your child’s skills at home, check out some of the websites listed below.  Please let us know if you have any specific questions or concerns about your child. 

 

http://www.pediatricsoffranklin.com/Medical_Library/illness/Building_Preschool_and_Kindergarten_Skills.htmlhttp://www.pediatricsoffranklin.com/Medical_Library/illness/Building_Preschool_and_Kindergarten_Skills.html

  

http://www.jeffcolib.org/home/kids-teens

 

http://www.parents.com/baby/development/talking/9-ways-to-help-your-childs-language-development/

 

http://families.naeyc.org/learning-and-development/child-development/help-your-child-build-fine-motor-skills